6 Korean Rap Diss Wars That Brought the Heat

1.
B-Free vs. BTS

From around 2014 forward, underground rap upstart B-Free made a lot of headlines for waging diss wars against popular acts of the time. One of his targets went on to become the biggest group in K-Pop - BTS, of course. After getting into some online comment wars with fans after criticizing the group's choreography, stage makeup and music, things heated up when B-Free said he would "bitch slap" BTS. In 2017, after things had changed and the group had risen, B-Free was asked if he would apologize to the group and he still didn't back down.

2.
iKON's Bobby vs. Everyone / Rap Monster

Show Me The Money has always been a hot issue, with its entire concept being built around competitive rapping and outperforming opponents directly. Its landmark season with a mix of talents including YG Entertainment stars Bobby and B.I. generated a lot of heated exchanges, including one between Bobby and seemingly every competitor that carried him to the finals of the show. The competition reached an arguable peak with "Y.G.G.R," where Bobby drew a line in the sand and declared "besides B.I., Zico, Mino, and P.O., everyone get out of the way!"

The most famous Bobby rap battle was with Rap Monster. Bobby takes a shot at Rap Monster in Masta Wu's song "Come Here" with the following lyrics: "Call me a monster, I didn't give that name to myself, I'm Won Bin in front of bulletproof glass (BTS) when it comes to skills and looks"

Rap Monster returned the favor at the 2014 MAMA awards. Reciting Bobby's verse and changing up the lyrics say he'll give him a foul kick like Messi:

3.
Jay Park vs. JYP

The history between mega-label JYP and Jay Park is complicated. For those that don't know or weren't around to witness it, Jay Park initially debuted as Jaebum through JYP group 2PM. After some old immature comments he made about Korea were discovered on MySpace, he became embroiled in so much controversy that he was forced to depart 2PM. The circumstances surrounding this were apparently an issue of hot debate between JYP and Jay, and he lashes out about the situation years later through this track from his "Worldwide" album.

4.
San E vs. B-Free

B-Free found himself wrapped around the axel once again when he got in a war of words with San E following their time together on "Show Me The Money." The show seemed to be a hotbed for genuine tension well after competitors were done with the stages of the on-screen competition, and "On Top Of Your Head" sees San E blowing off steam alongside MC Gree and demanding respect for himself. He even disses B-Free's "Hot Summer" song by saying f(x)!

5.
E-Sens vs. Gaeko vs. Simon D

In 2014, there was simply "something in the water" when it came to Korean rap, and at one point in the year an all-out diss war between half a dozen artists broke out. Most of this was prompted by a situation in American rap where Kendrick Lamar used his spot on a guest feature to call out all of his competition at once, which sent shockwaves through a hip-hop scene that hadn't experienced a major beef in some time. By hopping on the same beat ("Control"), these Korean rappers made a statement that they could compete and get the people talking as well. There's far too many individual disses contained within this battle to document each one, so we've just linked several tracks so you can decide who won for yourself.

Gaeko - "I Can Control You" (Here's Gaeko's submission to the battle.)

And Finally, Simon D also stepped into the fray with "Control":

6.
Iron vs. YG Entertainment

Before he became embroiled in legal issues related to his personal life, Iron was a rapper that showed a lot of promise. His intense raps were competition-ready, and he proved this by coming out with the track "System" which heavily criticized and made fun of almost every YG artist. In the song, Iron states that CL is only famous for hanging out with the right people, G-Dragon got an easy sentence for his marijuana scandal, and Seungri got rejected when asking for a date. At one point, he rapped about T.O.P and said "retarded rapper T.O.P., just change your career to acting," to which T.O.P. responded simply "hwaiting (good luck/work hard)."